Baton Rouge is uniquely where the
past and the present merge and it is filled with sites
that clarify and expand what you have previously
learned. After French explorers came upon the Baton
Rouge area in 1699 the region was thoroughly documented
by Pierre Le Moyne D'Iberville's descriptions of what he
called Istrouma, Red Stick, in French is Baton Rouge. He
saw large red poles, adorned with animal and fish heads,
placed by the Houma tribes to delineate their hunting
ground. It was noted that it was desirable because it
sat on the Mississippi River’s first bluff north of the
Gulf of Mexico. His journal encouraged settlement, just
as sofa sojourns encourage travel and a sense of
adventure, and in 1718 a French fort was erected to
protect travelers. @visitbatonrouge, louisianatravel.com

The Louisiana Capitol Park Museum
provides an excellent overview of the history of
Louisiana. It is filled with thematic galleries that are
colorful, comprehensive and interactive. Highlights are
the exhibits on the forms of music found in the state
and, of course, those on the regional Mardi Gras
celebrations.
louisianastatemuseum.org/museum/capitol-park-museum

The Art Deco Louisiana State
Capitol is 450-ft. tall, the tallest in the US, and one
of only nine without a dome. The 34-story building, on
27-acres, was completed in 1932. The front steps are
inscribed with the names of the states. Elevators inside
Memorial Hall are solid bronze and a statue of P. B. S.
Pinchback, the country’s first African American
governor, is in the lobby. Outside the Speaker’s Office
was the site of the assassination of Sen. Huey P. Long
in 1935 and the spot is denoted with a plaque. There is
an Observation Deck on the 27th floor.

Louisiana’s Gothic Old State
Capitol was completed 1850-61 on a hill. It is
surrounded by an 1854 cast iron fence that fits together
like a puzzle, has 4-floors and a 32-step spiral
staircase. The structure’s showpiece is the rotunda’s
stained-glass dome, added in 1882, comprised of 2054
panes of glass. In 1862 Louisiana seceded in the House
Chamber and Long was impeached there in 1932. This
National Historic Landmark opened as a museum in 1990.

LSU Museum of Art has a collection
of more than 6,000 permanent objects including a huge
collection of Louisiana art. The museum has a complete
menu of exhibitions and ongoing programs. lsumoa.org

Magnolia Mound Plantation occupies
16 of its original 900-acres and the 1791 Creole mansion
retains its original cypress flooring. Tours of the
house are augmented with the Beyond the Big House tour
and features a slave domicile from the plantation on
which author Ernest Gaines was born. A portion of the
cabin is furnished as slave quarters and part holds
displays on the enslaved. magnoliamound.org

The LSU Rural Life Museum has been
designated “one of the Top 10 outdoor museums in the
world”. Tours of the 42-sites are self-guided, interpret
1800s Louisiana life and are divided into four exhibit
areas, The Exhibit Barn, The Working Plantation, Folk
Architecture and The Gulf Coast Region. The
32-buildings, on 25-acres, are used for demonstrations
and exhibits of furnishings and artifacts. An incredible
highlight in the Exhibit Barn includes an original
relocated slave jail. rurallife.isu.edu

Houmas House Plantation and the
current mansion date from the 1800s. The site interprets
ante-bellum life on a sugar plantation from the
viewpoint of the privileged. The 28,000-sq- ft Great
River Road Museum and Interpretive Center, built at a
cost of $15-million is on the grounds of Houmas House.
The site includes, 2 restaurants, a café, a bar, a wine
cellar, a stage, a walkway that meanders through the
36-acre gardens and a pedestrian bridge that leads to
the Mississippi River. Eighteen movies have been filmed
there since 1964 including
Green Book.
houmashouse.com

Across the Mississippi River from
downtown Baton Rouge in Port Allen you’ll find the West
Baton Rouge Museum, the country’s sole museum depicting
sugar production from 1830s through the Civil Rights Era
of the 1960s. There are 8 major historic buildings in
the complex including a Slave Cabin, Reconstruction Era
Cabin and Juke Joint. The interpretation is outstanding
and includes actual interactive displays and authentic
WPA slave narratives and inventories. A model sugar mill
and the story of Norbert Rillieux and his designation as
“Founder of Chemical Engineering” are highlighted in the
gallery. This museum is a must! westbatonrouge.net

Southern University and
Agricultural & Mechanical College, the largest
historically black university, was founded in New
Orleans for “colored people” in 1880. In 1890 it
relocated to Scott’s Bluff on the Mississippi River
north of Baton Rouge. The first building on campus was
an 1840s overseer’s house remaining from its time on a
plantation. It currently houses the University Archives.
The Historic District includes the graves of the
founding family, the Red Stick sculpture, the Wade House
and the SU Museum of Art. The Red Stick Monument is
situated where the original Houmas Indians marked their
hunting ground. The museum consists of galleries
radiating around a mid-point. Four of the galleries are
dedicated to African American Art. You can view the
campus, students and internationally renowned Human
Jukebox Marching Band in Lizzo’s video, “Good as Hell”.
It was filmed on site. subr.edu

The City has a curated 3.1-mile
Heart Trail filled with trail markers and artworks.
Cocha Restaurant is situated across from The Roots Wall
site. The restaurant features fresh, non-GMO, seasonal,
vegan and vegetarian cuisine. Enjoy a globally inspired
dish as you plan your walk and soak up the art.
yourhearttrail.com/baton-rouge-la, cochabr.com

The Watermark Hotel is both a
destination and offers excellent accommodations from
which to explore the region. Originally a bank, it is
now a historic landmark hotel with 144 rooms, superb
architecture and world class amenities and service. Of
particular note are the 8 bas relief murals on the
mezzanine, the original vault, the unique chandeliers
and Mr. Bill Facey, an ambassador and historian for all
things Watermark and Baton Rouge.

Renee Gordon has written a weekly travel column for
the Philadelphia Sun Newspaper for the past fifteen
years and has published articles on local, national and
international travel in numerous publications. Her
columns focus on cultural, historic and heritage tourism
and her areas of specialization are sites and
attractions related to African American and African
Diaspora history. Renee has been a guest radio
commentator on various aspects of tourism and appeared
in a documentary, "The Red Summer of 1919". As an
educator for thirty years she was an English teacher,
event and meeting planner, served as an educational
consultant and intern-teacher mentor. She contributed to
textbooks on women's history and classroom management
and has facilitated workshops on both subjects. Renee
considers herself a "missionary journalist" and as such
she continues to promote heritage and sustainable
tourism.

American Roads and
Global Highways has so many great articles you
may want to search it for your favorite places
or new exciting destinations.

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